It has long been desirable for automotive vehicle designers to develop a computer based model to define the dynamic behavior of an automotive vehicle. A computer based vehicle model, typically designed with a computer-aided engineering (CAE) system, is valuable to provide vehicle design testing and analysis prior to making a prototype. This vehicle model evaluation, for example durability and NVH testing, can save the time and expense of building several prototypes before a final design is achieved.
An important part of vehicle durability and NVH testing is accurate road load testing. Prior attempts at modeling a vehicle for computer simulated road load testing have generally been unsuccessful, including attempts at providing a "virtual proving ground". In particular, a satisfactory tire model for use in a vehicle model has been difficult to achieve since a tire model which accurately models a tire has been found to be computationally inefficient and unstable, while a simpler tire model does not accurately predict road loads. The problem is exacerbated when a tire model is used in conjunction with a vehicle model which may have inherent errors due to modeling assumptions.